Avila - Spain
Posted by: 
denben
N 40° 39.319 W 004° 42.169
30T E 356043 N 4501889
Avila is sometimes called the City of Stones and Saints, and it claims that it is one of the cities with the highest number of Romanesque and Gothic churches per capita in Spain.
Waymark Code: WMGC66
Location: Castilla y León, Spain
Date Posted: 02/13/2013
Views: 12
Avila is Spain's highest provincial city, being approximately 1,130 metres above sea level. It is notable for having complete and prominent medieval city walls, built in the Romanesque style. The medieval work was started in 1090. The fenced area is of 31 hectares with a perimeter of approximately 2,516 meters, 88 blocks or semicircular towers, 2,500 merlons, paintings by 3 m. thick, an average height of 12 m. and 9 gates. It is the largest fully illuminated monument in the world.
Avila is the celebrated birthplace of Saint Teresa de Jesús also called, Saint Teresa d'Avila, 1515 to 1582. Santa Teresa was born Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada, a noblewoman who became a nun at the Convento de la Concepción (Convent of the Conception) at the age of eighteen. Santa Teresa was revered for her writings, first published in 1588, and mystical visions. She was a reformer of the Carmelite Order and is considered to be, along with John of the Cross, a founder of the Discalced Carmelites. In 1970 she was named a Doctor of the Church.
The Convent of St. Teresa is one of two main destinations for Catholic pilgrims to Ávila. The 17th-century convent was built after the canonization of St. Teresa (1515-82) over the house where she was born. It contains her relics, along with those of her friend St. John of the Cross, in a small museum.
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